Claude Renoir (December 4, 1913Some sources, such as Ginette Vincendeau's ''Encyclopedia of European Cinema'', London: Cassell/BFI, 1995, p.328 indicate 1914 as his year of birth – September 5, 1993) was a French

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

. He was the son of actor

Pierre Renoir Pierre Renoir (March 21, 1885 – March 11, 1952) was a French stage and film actor. He was the son of the impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and elder brother of the film director Jean Renoir. He is also noted for being the first ...

, the grandson of painter

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, feminine sensuality ...

, and the nephew of director

Jean Renoir Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s. His films '' ...

. He was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, his mother being actress Véra Sergine. He was apprenticed to Boris Kaufman, a brother of Dziga Vertov, who much later worked in the United States on such films as ''

On the Waterfront ''On the Waterfront'' is a 1954 American crime drama film, directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. It stars Marlon Brando and features Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Pat Henning, and Eva Marie Saint in her film debut. ...

'' (1954). Renoir was the lighting cameraman on numerous pictures such as ''

Monsieur Vincent ''Monsieur Vincent'' is a 1947 French film about Vincent de Paul, the 17th-century priest and charity worker. It depicts his struggle to help the poor in the face of obstacles such as the Black Death. In 1949, it won an honorary Academy Award as ...

'' (1947), Jean Renoir's '' The River'' (1951), ''

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...

'' (1963),

Roger Vadim Roger Vadim Plemiannikov (; 26 January 1928 – 11 February 2000) was a French screenwriter, film director and producer, as well as an author, artist and occasional actor. His best-known works are visually lavish films with erotic qualities, suc ...

's '' Barbarella'' (1968), ''

French Connection II ''French Connection II'' is a 1975 American action thriller film starring Gene Hackman and directed by John Frankenheimer. It is a sequel to the 1971 Academy Award for Best Picture winner '' The French Connection''. The film continues the stor ...

'' (1975), and the James Bond film '' The Spy Who Loved Me'' (1977). At the time of Claude Renoir's death, ''The Times'' of London wrote of ''The River'' that "its exquisite evocation of the Indian scene, helped to inaugurate a new era in the cinema, one in which color was finally accepted as a medium fit for great film makers to work in."see Eric Pac
"Claude Renoir, 79, A Cinematographer With a Painter's Eye"
''New York Times'', 13 September 1993 He also participated in the making of ''

The Mystery of Picasso ''The Mystery of Picasso'' (french: Le mystère Picasso) is a 1956 French documentary film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot. In it, the painter Pablo Picasso produces 20 drawings and paintings, at first using inks that bleed through the paper on ...

'' (1956), the documentary on painter

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

directed by

Henri-Georges Clouzot Henri-Georges Clouzot (; 20 November 1907 – 12 January 1977) was a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best remembered for his work in the thriller film genre, having directed ''The Wages of Fear'' and '' Les Diaboliques'', ...

. He was the cinematographer for ''

The Crucible ''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. Miller wrote the play as ...

'' (1957) and lived in East Germany during filming. Renoir's career came to a close in the late 1970s, as he was rapidly losing his sight. In his final years he was largely blind. He married twice and had two children, a son and a daughter, actress Sophie Renoir. Claude Renoir died at age 79 in

Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near ...

, 55 miles east of Paris, near the village of Essoyes, where he had a home.

Selected filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Renoir, Claude 1913 births 1993 deaths French cinematographers Claude